Fitness effects from egg to reproduction: Bridging the life history transition

Although complex life cycles are widespread, we know little about how constraints in the larval stage influence adult fitness. Most models assume a tight coupling of larval conditions and adult fitness through size and timing of the life history transition. However, there are few empirical tests of this assumption. We combined an experimental manipulation of larval environment with a subsequent study of adult fitness, measured as lifetime mating success. Individuals of the damselfly Lestes viridis were followed from the egg stage to adult reproduction and death. Under time constraints, emergence occurred earlier, but in late-hatched larvae, this did not result in a lower size. Under nutritional constraints, emergence occurred later, and size was reduced. Variation in survival to maturity was better explained by larval constraints than by emergence traits, whereas both larval constraints and emergence traits explained variation in lifetime mating success. Sexes reacted differently to larval constraints, and the coupling of larval constraints to adult fitness also was sex specific. Our results indicate that larval constraints do not necessarily carry over to adult fitness through size and timing of transition, and that carryover effects may be sex specific. This may explain the existence of hidden costs that become visible after maturation and may explain part of the unexplained variation in selection studies on adults.